Foreign trade volume of Ukrainian goods shortened by 5.6 percent over three quarters of 2020. This means the budget for 2021 must be revised for additional support of exporters. This was stated by MP Serhiy Lovochkin.

“While it had been envisioned earlier that Ukrainian export might reach its prewar levels, the current crisis has postponed the prospects of it for an indefinite period. Significant decrease of sales volume of Ukrainian goods this year is an alarming process that needs a government intervention,” the politician believes.

He cited data of January – September 2020 export volumes which have reached mere 76 percent of the 2013 level. The situation is most catastrophic with export of Ukrainian goods to CIS countries which fell by three times.

“The EU market failed to cover for these losses: despite the free trade area, our export to the Europe increased by some 8.5 percent over the seven years. This year, we are losing that as well: the sales of Ukrainian goods to the European market fell by 16.3 percent over nine months of 2020 compared to the same period last year,” the MP said.

According to Lovochkin, the government fails to assess the seriousness of the problem. The state budget 2020 envisioned only 15 million hryvnia for promotion and increase of national export; for 2021 it is only 14.5 million hryvnia.

“In 2019, the budget provisioned 158 million for this purpose, and 278 million in 2018. Still, even those amounts were not enough. The link is obvious between the cut of the state support for export and its plunge this year. Therefore, the state budget amount for promotion of Ukrainian goods abroad in 2021 must be increased by at least 50 times. Otherwise, the situation with export will continue deteriorating,” Lovochkin said.